Rahul Gandhi-Tejashwi Yadav lunch meet triggers speculation about political equations in Bihar

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had a lunch meeting with Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the former deputy CM of Bihar and younger son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav, in Delhi on Friday, triggering speculations about changing political equations in Bihar.

The meet comes a day after Tejashwi, also the leader of Opposition in Bihar legislative assembly, took on Rahul's adversaries, dubbing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as 'Gappu' in lieu of the saffron party calling Rahul 'Pappu'.

"Despite being out of power, the so-called Pappu is climbing the popularity graph, while Gappu is misusing government machinery and spending crores on IT cell, and yet his popularity is falling," Tejashwi had said in a series of tweets on Thursday.

The news of the luncheon meet was shared by Tejashwi on his official Twitter handle along with photographs on Friday afternoon. The Yadav leader thanked Rahul and said, "Thank you @OfficeOfRG for taking me out for wonderful lunch. Feel appreciated and grateful. Again thanks for taking out time out of your tight schedule." He, however, did not elaborate on the meeting.

"The two share an easy rapport. Earlier this month, Rahul ji had wished Tejashwi over the phone on his birthday," said an RJD leader in Bihar.

At a time when Rahul is busy stumping for Gujarat election, and in light of the corruption charges levelled against Tejashwi and his family members and the ongoing inquiry in the land for Railways' hotel scam, the meeting assumes much significance.

Rahul's Congress was a part of the Grand Alliance government, which came to power in Bihar in November 2015, in which Tejashwi was the deputy CM. Even after its disintegration, both RJD and Congress have been supporting each other in Bihar.